Punjab vs Bengal: Experienced and young face acid test

Mohali, Nov 22 (UNI) Former Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly will be the one to watch, when Bengal take on hosts Punjab in a Ranji Trophy match to be played at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium here tomorrow.

The two teams are facing each other after a long time and this match is crucial for both on account of the Indian team's performance at the international level.

While Ganguly is fighting to stage a comeback, young stars from Punjab like V R V Singh, Gagandeep Singh, Rajesh Sharma and Ritender Singh Sodhi would go all out to impress the selectors. Rohan Gavaskar and Deepdas Gupta would also be looking to impress the selectors.

Rajesh Sharma, after a successful Duleep Trophy session, will try to exploit the sporting Mohali wicket. The pther prominent players who will be seen in action are S S Paul for Bengal and skipper Pankaj Dharmani and Rajinder Sharma for Punjab.

Punjab will be without the services of their regular skipper Dinesh Mongia and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who are doing duty with Team India in South Africa. The hosts will also miss the dashing Yuvraj Singh who is out with an injury.

Owing to the local weather conditions, the PCA has decided to start the match 15 minutes early in the morning so as to make six hours play in a day possible. The match will start at 0915 hours everyday and end at 1615 hours.

The wicket is expected tod be fast and bouncy.

Teams: Punjab: Pankaj Dharmani (captain), Reetinder Singh Sodhi, VRV Singh, Ravneet Ricky, Munish Sharma, Gaurav Gupta, Vipul Sharma, Gagandeep Singh, Lovabilish, Rajesh Sharma, Uday Kaul, Amit Uniyal, Karan Goel, Ishan Malhotra, Gaurav Marwaha.

Daljit Singh (coach).Sushil Kapoor (Administrative Manager).

Dr T Pavan Kumar (physiotherapist). Kailash Chander (trainer).

Bengal : Saurav Ganguly (captain), Deep Dashgupta (WK), Subhomay Das, Arindam Das, Rohan Gavaskar, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, L R Shukla, Manoj Tiwary, Sourasish Lahiri, Shib Sagar Singh, Ranadeb Bose, Ashok Dinda, Amitava Chakraborty, Aklakh Ahamed, Shib Shankar Paul.

Paras Mhambrey (coach). Samir Dasgupta (manager).

Umpires: S. Ravindhron (Tiruchirapalli) and A V Vijayprakash (Bangalore).

Match referee: Rajo Pankule (Baroda Cricket Association).

UNI XC-HS PM KN1942